Waiting for the Rain to Fall
by rokubi-raijuu
Summary: In the final moments of his time with Leon, D finally comes to an understanding with the emotions that have been burning inside him. Retelling of the last few pages of the manga. Spoiler for those who haven't read book 10. Slight DxLeon. Oneshot.


- Was anyone else extremely moved by the fact that D was crying when he pushed Leon off the ship at the end of the series? Because I was, and this fanfic came off of that. C:  
Inspired by the last few pages of the manga and the songs "Good Enough" and "Together Again" by Evanescence. (Because I was listening to them on repeat while writing this.)

R+R please! C:

xxxxxxxxxxx

"_Perhaps… someday humans will fly as well."_

The crisp air was pure that night. He was used to this kind of feeling now, this endless beauty of being high in the sky, where no human grievances could touch him, where he was far from all the troubles that could have made this so much worse. He was away from the flames, away from the dirt and grime of Chinatown's streets, the rowdiness that he so hated. Up here, amidst the swirling clouds and the endless silence save for the chatter of his pets and the occasional creak of the ship's woodwork, he could feel like he was finally at ease. The breathless wind swirled about his hair, black as coal, lifting it in a whirling dance as if to taunt him, the fleeting touch of the breeze grazing his skin like the whispering touch of a lover.

He did not understand why he had let him live. Leon had been right – he was only a mere human. A lowly, despicable human, and on top of that, he had killed his father. Why hadn't D left him in the flaming building to die – they had known each other for a while now, but still he meant nothing to him, yes?

D would never let go of his pride enough to admit that he knew why he had saved the detective. Yes, he was a human, and D didn't know how he had managed to tolerate him these last few years. He was crude and rash, hot-headed and foul-mouthed. He was the epitome of the things that the Count so despised, and yet… there had been those moments.

"… _It wasn't the first time I had to pull the trigger, but… man."_

"_How's Chris? Is he alright?"_

Thick lashes swept down over mismatched eyes as the Count frowned thoughtfully, a gentle sigh escaping his perfect lips and floating away into the breathless sky. Leon Orcot was a kind of human he had never come into contact with before. For all his crude ways, the man was… gentle. He was so human. _So_ inexplicably human, that D found himself hating him and at once intrigued by him, drawn to this uncouth, unsophisticated, extremely _mortal_ being with a horrifying interest.

And this burning… why this burning in the cavities of his chest as if there was something sizeable missing?

But D responded to those abstract and unfamiliar emotions in the same way he always did. A smile graced his unearthly features, all hint of unease and distress melting away like paint under hot fire from his expression. That composed smirk came to rest on his lips once more – that smirk that Leon had grown to hate so much. But the smile did not reach his eyes – the smile would never reach his glittering, bi-colored eyes, which were the only windows that could betray what he truly felt.

And not a moment too soon, for just then, a scratching sound caught his attention on the starboard side of his ship. Slowly, deliberately taking his time, the Count turned to face the shirtless figure as he clambered on board with all the finesse of a butcher. The lion of a man panted as he finally touched foot on the ship's planks, eyeing the Count with a flash of irritation in his sky blue eyes. "Count, you little…!" he began threateningly, but was stopped as Pon-chan grabbed onto his leg, a sort of bright, knowing enthusiasm in her sparkling eyes.

"Leon!" she chirruped happily, and the detective blinked in confusion.

"… Pon-chan?" he queried, looking up to survey his surroundings. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the horned boy lying on his side on a loveseat, head propped in his hand, a calm smile on his face. "Holy crap, you're Tetsu!" His eyes then slid over to regard the entire shop in all its oriental splendor, dozens of pets hanging off the ship's rigging, seated on the high bows and sliding on the sails. The shop's glittering lights flickered, dancing in the ebbing night, teasing the eyes, and the smell of faint incense nipped the tip of his nose before wafting off into the air, carried by the breeze. His eyes dimmed, and he turned once more to face the Count, who now had moved to stand by the ship's edge, overlooking the side at the swirling earth below with flickering irises of royal purple and velvet gold.

"Well Count, where are we going?" Leon spoke, his voice softer than the Count had heard it in a long time. Somehow, he felt a forceful tug at the strings of his heart that rendered him voiceless so that he had to wait for a moment before answering. When at last he was able to speak again, even he was surprised at the calm with which he pronounced his words, the lack of trembling with which those muscles of his throat moved. Was this how Leon always heard him speak?

"Anywhere," he replied simply, letting his gaze slide up from the earth to the endless skies. The twinkling stars shone brightly in the cloudless air, flickering and reflecting themselves in the Count's glassy eyes. He knew the detective would not be satisfied with such a simple answer, and could already feel the beginnings of annoyance brewing behind him. "We are able to move freely, without regard for the borders humans have drawn." Suddenly, as he finished speaking, D felt the muscles in his throat inexplicably tighten, and he licked his lips and swallowed, frowning again and glad that Leon could not see him. As he stared up at the stars, they suddenly began to blur, becoming bigger and paler than the tiny golden pinpricks they had been moments before. In fact, his entire vision was becoming cloudy, and his eyes began to burn a little bit.

What was this? Tears… he felt a single tear break from his eyes and smooth its way down his fine, porcelain face, the heat of it surprising him as the night breeze suddenly seemed so much colder.

Then he turned, the movement fluid as he came face to face with the man he would most likely never see again. Still the ambiguous smile hovered, unbroken, on his lips even as another tear tracked its way down his cheek, dotting the planks of the ship as they fell like glittering pearls sparkling in the moonlight. "But your journey ends here."

Leon's look of surprise did not go unnoticed by the Count as he raised a pale, elegant hand, placing the tips of his fine, elongated fingers on the man's bare chest. "What?"

Their faces were hardly a foot away from each other, so close D could almost taste Leon's breath, inhale the nearly tangible musky scent of his all too human body. They were so close… and anymore contact would have been so simple. Hardly a bit of a lean forward, and his lips could have tasted exactly what this man hid behind his rough exterior. It was at this moment that D realized that this man, this man whom he had been annoyed with and, at best, tolerated over the last few years… this man was beautiful. He was simply that – detective Leon Orcot, a diamond in the rough, a human among humans.

He was beautiful. And D could not bear to allow him to stay.

"Humans have not earned the right to board this ship. Not yet."

A third tear winded down his pale face, joining the first two on the board of the ship. Still his smile did not falter. Still his eyes never stopped their mysterious twinkle, even as he let his gaze linger on the surprised expression of the man whom he had grown to cherish and care for.

The push was too easy. He didn't know what he had expected, but perhaps he had hoped that it would be harder to release Leon for the last time, to see him go beyond his reach forever. D watched with an unreadable expression as Leon toppled overboard without so much as a sound, his heart falling back down to earth along with the blonde-haired detective.

He let his hand linger there for a moment longer, wanting to remember the tingling feeling of placing his fingertips on Leon's chest and lock it in a secure place in his mind so he would never forget. And long after Leon had become nothing but a tiny speck in D's line of sight, he continued to stand there by the edge of the ship, watching. Even when T-chan and Pon-chan came to stand beside him without a word, as if understanding the need for silence, D did not move, did not shift his bi-colored gaze from the place where Leon had fallen.

_Goodbye, my dear detective. _


End file.
